In the field of sportfishing, a great variety of fishhooks have been developed, and similarly, a great number of different techniques have been developed for attaching bait to the hook. Some of the prior devices have been designed for use only with live bait, while others have been designed for artificial bait. Of course some such devices will work with both live and artificial bait.
The present invention is particularly suited for use with artificial bait, and more particularly with so-called soft plastic baits such as plastic worms, crawfish, grubs, snakes, and the like. In general, the textures of such baits are rather soft and of uniform texture. Frequently the baits are made to be very soft to more closely simulate a natural or living creature. The use of soft baits has grown tremendously in recent years, because of the improved technologies of the plastics used. The baits have become softer, and have also become more flexible.
Unfortunately, the use of soft, flexible plastic baits tends to give rise to more difficulty in keeping the bait on the hook. A soft, flexible bait generally is easier to tear or break as it is pulled through underwater brush, rocks, weeds, etc. As a result, the bait must be changed more frequently and the costs to the fisherman can increase. Some of the more common techniques used for attaching the bait to the hook involve passing the hook and barb completely through the body of the bait. In some techniques, only the tip of the hook is embedded in the soft plastic, while in other techniques, most of the shank of the hook is embedded.
One prior technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,381 of Carver, et al, and the technique used only involves the point of the hook being embedded in the soft plastic. To secure the bait in the desired position, the hook utilizes an additional element which is a straight, rigid rod attached to the eye of the hook. The rod has a number of barbs along the shank, and is inserted axially into the end of a bait such as a plastic worm. In this manner, the rigid rod secures the head end of the worm, while the point of the hook is embedded into the body of the worm. The rod, while being rigid, has one end pivotally attached to the eye of the hook, so that it has some degree of movement, but once the bait is secured, no significant further movement is possible, since the rigidity of the rod prevents substantial flexing of the bait. Further, since the rod is rigid and straight, some rigging techniques which utilize a curved worm body are to some extent inhibited by this type of hook arrangement. The rigid rod is also of a diameter substantially the same as, or even larger than, the diameter of the hook. This can cause tearing of the end of the worm during use, with the result that the worm would be discarded early.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved bait attaching device for fishing lures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bait attaching device for fishhooks which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible bait securing device for fishhooks.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a bait attaching device which securely holds the bait in place, but which nonetheless retains a significant degree of flexibility.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improved bait securing device which may be attached either to the eye of the hook or may be attached to the shank of the hook so that it may be used to attach the bait closer to the throat of the hook.
These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a detailed consideration of the following description.